For the purpose of effectively displaying lightweight garments of delicate fabrics, such as underwear and the like, there is a need for a hanger which will effectively and reliably hold the garment for the purpose of display without damage to the delicate fabrics involved. The hanger must also be capable of effectively gripping various types of garments. It is equally desirable to provide such a hanger which can be repeatedly used with the garments by the user without damage or wear on the garment itself. This is particularly true in connection with laundering the garments. Because of the nature of the garments with which these types of hangers are used, it is important that the hangers themselves be lightweight, easy to use and capable of gripping the garment without the use of means which would cut or injure any of the threads of the garment. It is also important that the hanger be inexpensive because, in the case of many retail facilities, the hangers either have a single use or, in some cases, are delivered to the customer with the hanger. From the viewpoint of the customer, particularly one who travels, it is important that the hanger be lightweight, capable of being tightly packed in luggage and transportable with a minimum of required spaced.
This invention provides an improvement over the hanger disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,079, issued Nov. 18, 1987, to D. Tendrup et al. entitled GARMENT HANGER WITH GRIP and U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,102, issued Dec. 16, 1986, to D. Tendrup et al., entitled GARMENT HANGER WITH CLIP. The invention provides a garment hanger from which can be suspended a variety of garments, such as underwear, brassieres, slips or pantyhose, these being only exemplary of the broad spectrum of use of the invention. The invention is particularly designed to provide a positive support for garments suspended from their straps which will assure that the straps will not become detached and, thereby, release the garment. The invention also provides the capability of hanging garments having wide support bands, as well as narrow support bands. The invention provides security means for this type of garment which positively prevents inadvertent release of the garment by the hanger because the hanger's construction necessitates the positive intervention of an operator to effect garment release. The construction of the arms which clamp the garment to the hanger is such that the arms can be flexed many times without danger of breakage due to fatigue and yet the arms provide sufficient resistance to deflection to effectively and positively clamp the garment.